Happy Birthday, Novel-of-Mine

This morning I posted this picture on my Facebook page, and thought it deserved more comment.

You see, after sending my novel to beta readers, receiving their feedback and implementing it, this was supposed to be the final quick read-through to check for snags before sending it off to Karen Sanders for editing in the new year.

And yet… at only 39% of the document, I’ve already got over 200 edits! Wow. That’s a lot.

This book officially sprang into life a year ago, during NaNoWriMo 2016. My plan at the time was to take part in the challenge every year, but now I’m thinking that every two years will probably suit me better. I’ve definitely accelerated my writing process, which was part of the plan – now all I have to do is streamline how many times I actually have to edit the darn thing!

Good luck to everyone who’s taking part in National Novel Writing Month this year – it’s always a blast… a tiring, obsessive, chocolate-bingeing blast 😉

At least if you’re behind now, there are plenty of weekends for hunkering down and getting words on the page! Yes, I think the every other year idea will give me space to edit, submit, and work on some shorts before diving back in. Look out, NaNo2018 🙂

Hi Annalisa – I don’t do NaNo … as you’ll guess – also probably should do more editing of my posts – but a whole book … it’s great you’re getting ideas and edits through … as MJ says – good luck with the other 61% … things will work out. But it makes sense to do NaNo every other year … that resonates! Cheers Hilary

Wow, that’s a lot of edits! And I think you have the right idea about NaNoWriMo; you’re writing anyway, so you don’t necessarily have to do it every year. I’m not doing Nano because November is an especially busy month at work for me, but I have been writing; I’m working on a new story that is somehow easier for me to write than the ones I’ve been working on in the past. Maybe it’s because this time, it’s about something that’s closer to my heart: my life in Chicago.

congrats on lots of nitpicking and edits. I have no doubt it is worth the hard work and the quality and intensity of your work shall shine. I can’t wait to buy and read your work. I know it will be awesome. Hang in there………don’t rush the process, and yes you deserve chocolate every day. Cheers and kudos to you. Happy NaNo Anniversary!

It was 375 by the time I finished reading – including about 50 ‘rewrite to make sense’ paragraphs. I’ve also found 328 ‘that’s to, 158 ‘look’s, and 159 ‘see’s to attempt to remove. But – just because I’m nerdy – only 21 occurrences of the word ‘said’ 😉

I wasn’t actively counting them, but Kindle numbered them, so I know. I counted up my overused words, because that’s how I decide which words need to be culled – or at least looked at. Also, I’m a bit of a nerd, and tracking the numbers interest me 🙂

I know it’s probably a pain to have to do those, but the positive note is that they enjoyed your book and gave feedback. That keeps things moving along. I’m thrilled to know that you’re writing an entire book! Kudos to you! Hugs…RO